Saturday, August 31, 2013

It was the sophomore duo from Shadle Park, Hannah Bokma and Tiara Pajimola, combining once again for the victory as Whitworth downed visiting Southwestern of Texas 1-0 Saturday to sweep the Whitworth Classic while Pacific Lutheran fell in their second contest, 4-0, to nationally-ranked Cal Lutheran.

Friday, August 30, 2013

Two of the state's three DI programs squared off in a physical contest Friday | Photos: Gerald Barnhart - GALLERY

After withstanding the early pressure and attack of the visiting Washington Huskies Friday evening, the Gonzaga men made it a back-and-forth contest versus their foes from across the state only to see Brad Jacobson’s second half goal prove to be the deciding tally for the Huskies in a 1-0 victory in the season opener for both sides.

After just eight minutes, it looked like the Whitworth ladies were going to have themselves a somewhat easy go of it Friday afternoon in the opener of the Whitworth Classic with two early goals from Tiara Pajimola and Kristin Wucherer, but things turned out very differently en route to the 2-1 Pirates victory in their season opener against Cal Lutheran, who came in ranked 21 in the Division III preseason poll.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

The Whitworth women open up their 2013 season at home this weekend with the Whitworth Classic, playing host to Cal Lutheran Friday and Southwestern (Texas) on Saturday, both at noon, with the duo the facing Northwest Conference's Pacific Lutheran on opposite days in the second half of the doubleheaders. The holiday weekend will also feature Carroll University (Wisconsin) visiting to play Whitman Sunday and the Pirates Monday for a total of six games in four days.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

The Gonzaga men kick off their 2013 campaign Friday in a showdown with one of the other two, and the preeminent, Division I programs in the state, the University of Washington. It is the first of seven non-league contests to start the season, a series that concludes September 28 at home against the other DI Washington program, Seattle University, after a set of five games on the road.

Each week INWsoccernews will release lists of the week’s best performances for men’s and women’s soccer in the region, recognizing players at schools in the region or those from the area that play elsewhere in the nation.

With a limited number of games on the men’s side, the list for the first week (plus a little more) is combined for men and women.

The USL Pro playoffs could result in some movement in the rankings, but with everything going pretty much according to seeding in the quarterfinals, very little changed this week. The bigger effect on the list was Atlanta's loss at home to Fort Lauderdale, which dropped the Silverbacks, winless in three, down four spots and sent the Strikers, who have won two in a row, on a big leap up six spots.

This Week (Last Week) Club (League) :: W-L-D :: Notes

1 (1) Richmond Kickers (USL Pro) :: 15-1-10 :: Dayton gave the Kickers a test in the postseason, but they advanced to the semifinals with a 1-0 win.

The opening round of the USL Pro playoffs went pretty much as expected with the only quarterfinal upset coming in the five-v-four match Top seed Richmond, however, only slipped by Dayton after suffering just one loss this season. In the NASL, don't look now but Fort Lauderdale has won two straight with a win over the Spring champs while New York is now two-for-two at home.

Friday, August 23, 2013

In a preseason exhibition, local universities Gonzaga and Whitworth squared off in a friendly that finished 1-1 Thursday evening with goals from Conner Bevans for the Bulldogs and Sam Selisch for the Pirates. The result against the Division I Zags was a great start under coach Morgan Cathey, who was making his collegiate head coaching debut.

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Soccer entertainment in Spokane has not been a bumpy road, but rather a mountain range of peaks and valleys. In 2014, however, the Spokane Shadow are returning to the senior level of the sport hoping the mountains are in the rear-view mirror.

The soccer world in the Northwest has evolved since the Spokane Shadow PDL team went dark after the 2005 season. The Sounders went from being a leading lower division side to a marquee MLS franchise and have been joined by successful Cascadia counterparts in Portland and Vancouver, creating a thriving soccer culture in the region. Now, Spokane fans will once again be able to come together at the pitch and cheer on their own team - likely two - courtesy of the announcement that the Shadow are relaunching a men's team and are planning to also feature a women's side beginning in 2014.

Monday, August 19, 2013

Minimal changes for the top five as they continue to prove to be the best of the Lower Divisions. The Cosmos slipped a bit because the scoreless draw against a decent opponent now looks like a scoreless streak as they were shutout again this week.

Wilmington and Dayton made jumps up the list as they finished strong in their race against one another for the final USL Pro playoff spot, but another bad loss for San Antonio has seen the once promising side plummet fast and hard from the third position they held at the NASL break to now 16 in just three weeks of play.

Nearly all of the attention in Week 20 was focused on USL Pro where there were a handful of races and storylines to watch as the regular season came to a close. Commissioner’s Cup contenders Richmond and Orlando squared off in a game that decided the outcome for the top of the table while at the bottom of the standings the road warriors, Antigua Barracuda, had two final opportunities to earn their first points of the season. And, perhaps more crucial, a few teams were still vying for the final playoff spot.

Thursday, August 15, 2013

As the two-weekend Northwest Cup hosted by the Spokane Shadow comes to a close this weekend and Whitworth’s program embarks on the 2013 campaign, INWsoccernews presents a look back at the past and some discussion of the present with a long overdue presentation of an interview held with longtime Spokane coach Sean Bushey prior to his departure earlier this summer.

The news in March was a surprising announcement considering Bushey’s nearly two decades of coaching in the community, the success of the Whitworth men’s program that he was coaching and the successful merger between two of the area’s leading youth clubs under the Spokane Shadow banner.

“Ultimately, it took a while to come to a final decision once the conversation began, basically it was a two-month process,” Bushey said. “Leaving Whitworth, when it has been so good to me and my family is very difficult.”

San Antonio slides even further as it appears their hot streak at the end of the Spring season may have been a fleeting moment instead of a long-term trend and the Cosmos moved up into the top seven after proving themselves against a quality NASL opponent on the road.

The big movers among the USL Pro contingent were Charlotte, which jumped five spots with a pair of wins, and VSI Tampa Bay, which slid into the bottom four with three road losses.

Monday, August 12, 2013

With one week left, seven of the eight USL Pro playoff berths have been decided, leaving three teams battling for the final spot. Meanwhile, the NASL Fall season only two weeks has no clear front-runner as of yet and it was a quiet week in MLS Reserve League play aside from the Seattle Sounders Reserves traveling to Orlando for the final interleague match with USL Pro for the year.

For the second time this year, Orlando City blanked the Sounders Reserves 2-0, joining the Carolinas trio of Charleston, Charlotte and Wilmington as the only USL Pro sides to sweep their MLS counterparts as the third division league went 11-6-9 versus MLS Reserve competition this year as written about in more detail here.

Thursday, August 8, 2013

This is it. On Sunday the Seattle Sounders Reserves travel nearly as far across the country as is possible to face Orlando City in the final interleague match-up between MLS Reserve League and USL Pro clubs in the first year of the MLS-USL partnership.

Seattle will be looking to avenge their 2-0 home loss to Orlando from what was the fifth interleague match between the leagues back on May 12. In the end, however, it will not affect the overall outcome as USL Pro heads into the contest with a 10-6-9 record in its favor.

Wednesday, August 7, 2013

A weekly list of the top five players or performances of each round in NASL, USL Pro and MLS Reserves in all competitions…

This week's selection was particularly difficult as the 7-4 thriller between Tampa Bay and San Antonio in the NASL Fall kick off featured four or five players alone that had worth performances on the offensive end of the pitch.

San Antonio's slip up at home in the NASL's return to action led to the the only movement among the top eight clubs that remain solidly entrenched within their grouping.

Everything below though is entirely up for grabs. Pittsburgh, for instance, made a huge move up the list with two stunning wins against quality opposition on the road and Wilmington made a move out of the deep bottom with a pair of wins while clubs like Dayton, VSI Tampa Bay and Rochester fell even further.

Monday, August 5, 2013

Round 18 of the domestic calendar marked the kick off of the NASL Fall campaign and another re-launch of the New York Cosmos. The spotlight may have been stolen by two other contests, however. In the NASL, there was an amazing 11-goal contest in which the Tampa Bay Rowdies rallied back from three down on the road for a 7-4 victory in San Antonio. In USL Pro, it was the end of the Richmond Kickers’ unbeaten season as they were finally felled in game number 23 by the Charleston Battery.

Jorge Herrera - Charlotte Eagles (4)
Was key in Charlotte rebounding against LA, scoring the initial equalizer and then setting up goals in stoppage time in each half to erase a two-goal deficit for a 3-3 draw.